Friday, 25 June 2010

First off, I’d like to address the Pyro figure. A lot of helpful comments, even if they are mostly negative. I’m going to try and answer some of the questions regarding this sculpt:

I think the image I placed on here didn’t do the character much justice but I appreciate you may just not like it. Here’s a better pic.

First up is the size difference, in the photo I placed up Pyro was at the painted sculpt stage, which means he’s made of another material and not lead. When the figures are made in lead they shrink a little. Having got a lead version of Pyro in the office, I can confirm that he’s the same size as Spidey.

Marvel’s changes involved the paint job. We initially had the character in a different orange costume; Marvel requested the colour scheme you see now.

Unfortunately, as someone suggested in the comments, we’ve moved to the point where the pose is pretty much decided. Please bear in mind that when the Pyro sculpt was shown on this blog, the feedback was positive, as always a couple of collectors weren’t thrilled with the character but there wasn’t an outcry for the figure to be changed at the time. I promise you we do take your comments seriously and are willing to look at figures again but it may be too late for this one. I really do think that a lot of people are going to like the figure when they see it in the shops.

Other questions that popped up in the comments were regarding double packs and Northstar. I’m sorry to say I can’t confirm one yet but I do believe we’ll have Northstar and Aurora as a double pack as part of next year’s specials.

Someone also asked why competitions and polls are on the forums and not on the blog. The simple answer is that I don’t have the ability (or time) to make sure people don’t cheat on polls/comps on this blog. We have tried running a few polls in the past but it quickly became obvious that someone was cheating. When the forum chose three figures for this extension I will announce the details on this blog, giving most a chance to join and vote. Sorry but there just isn’t another way.

Anyway, that aside I’ve got two more figures to announce for the extension.

The first is Forge – a simple choice that has been requested many times and is a very popular X-Men character.

The second is….

J. Jonah Jameson.

Now I know there’s going to be a lot of debate on this one but let me say straight away that Jameson being in the collection does not mean we’ve ‘opened the floodgates for civilians’. As far as I’m concerned, Jameson is one of the most important characters in Spidey’s history and despite being a ‘normal’, is as recognizable and unique-looking (hell, probably a lot more) than the other characters in the extension.

Right, that leaves just one slot for Eaglemoss to choose before we start the polls and comp. We’ve talked about it in the office non-stop over the last few days and still can’t quite decide, so now’s your chance to give me your suggestions for the ONE character. Make your voice known in the comments section and you never know, we may be influenced and pick it.

Friday, 11 June 2010

My apologies for the lack of recent updates, I’ve been extremely busy and despite my best intentions, 7pm Friday arrives and the working week’s gone.

I’d like to start this update by announcing a further two figures for the extension:

Mar-Vell

Photon (Monica Rambeau)

Two very popular characters strangely enough both have gone under the codename Captain Marvel. Mar-Vell’s costume is pretty much obvious but what do you think about Monica’s? She’s had a few different costumes – I’m not going to list them all here, but if you know what you’d prefer let me know in the comments.

A very early sneak peek of Cannonball. As you can see we went for something a little special with this sculpt. We wanted to capture him taking off and were inspired by some of the rocket man style posters from the 50s.

This week I have the painted versions of Sasquatch and Puck, as you can see they are on separate bases.

And also an update to the paint stage of Pyro – we had to change this for Marvel.

I know, just a short update but life isn’t getting any quieter around the office. I’ll do my best for another longer update next week, if there’s any burning questions put them in the comments section and I’ll do my best to answer.

About Me

Dan Rachael (Art Editor, previous credits BBC Children's Magazines and Marvel UK) has recently inherited the blog from Richard Jackson who has moved on to bigger and better things (not in our opinion!). Dan has been tasked with navigating the starship Excelsior (CMFC)! to boldly go where no man or beast has gone before (well, at least up to issue 200). Beam me up Kirby!